Lottery is Tuesday for enrollment in new Windham STEM school

The long-awaited lottery for spots in the Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy will take place Tuesday.

By FRANCESCA KEFALAS

The Bulletin

By FRANCESCA KEFALAS

Posted May. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 13, 2013 at 1:00 PM

By FRANCESCA KEFALAS

Posted May. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 13, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Windham, Conn.

The long-awaited lottery for spots in the Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy will take place Tuesday.

The lottery had been postponed from March for Windham students and April for out-of-town students because of a glitch between the school district and the state Department of Education. The school’s operational plan had to be revised to meet the state’s standards, Superintendent Ana Ortiz said.

“We are in a good place right now,” Ortiz said. “We have the operational plan in a place where it can be approved and we can have the lottery.”

The lottery is open to the public and will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Windham High School auditorium. Names will not be revealed at the lottery. Letters will be sent to families notifying them of whether their children have been accepted or are on the waiting list. Accepted students will have 10 days to confirm that they will attend.

The Board of Education only received the operational plan hours before it was expected to approve it last Wednesday. Ortiz said she was exchanging emails with officials from the state education department until moments before the meeting.

The holdup with the plan has also delayed $2 million in purchases of furniture, fixtures and equipment.

“If we don’t get this approved, it’s holding up the $2 million (furniture, fixtures and equipment), and if doesn’t get ordered, it won’t be here on time,” school board member Nancy Tinker said. “For that reason we need to approve the plan.”

The operational plan wasn’t revised significantly, but it did have more details in a variety of areas, Ortiz said.

For example, the plan needed details about curriculum, including potty-training for the pre-kindergarten classrooms.

The board removed a section of the plan that gave staff preference for their children in placement.

“I know a lot of colleagues who have kids in the (Capitol Region Education Council) magnet schools,” Luz Osuba said. “That’s not a common practice.”